JRB Art at The Elms presents a holiday group exhibition with work by 25 Oklahoma artists alongside a solo show and installation by Denise Duong.

The exhibitions opened with a reception December 4 during the Paseo’s First Friday Gallery Walk and continue through Sunday, December 27.

Denise Duong’s exhibition will occupy the entire Ship Gallery and include the artist’s whimsical black and white drawings, several large scale paintings, and, for the very first time, an in situ artwork on the gallery walls. The exhibition’s title, “Flux,” highlights continuous change: artistic growth, her travels this year in Uganda and elsewhere, the move of her practice between mediums of paint and drawing, ceramic and in situ.

In this last month of 2015, her exhibit is a fitting metaphor for the changes the United States and the world have faced over the past year – and a reminder that nothing but change is yet to come. As Heraclitus of Ephesos said, “change is the only constant.”

Denise’s imagery shows the inevitability of change at an adaptable, inviting, and human scale, as people journey with her characters through their poignantly cartoon-like escapades. In some patrons see her dog, a charming white bull terrier, anthropomorphized as only a dog lover could do – at once comic and gentlemanly. In other works, the depiction of social relationships belies Duong’s deep grasp of the human psyche – the daily interactions of two people in love, out of love, on a bike ride, doing business or caught in a windstorm. Like Shel Silverstein and Edward Gorey, Denise is able to provide human comfort in charming caricature.

The gallery’s January program will include 12 paintings by Oscar Brousse Jacobson, as well as a re-vamp of the gallery’s somewhat traditional “white show” – this year called “Tres Blanc.” About 20 Oklahoma artists, some entirely new to the gallery, are expected to display their work.